ARP: 2009 Scroll of Honour Award Winner
The Habitat Scroll of Honour award was
launched by the United Nations Human Settlements Programme in 1989 as
part of World Habitat Day. The idea behind this initiative is to
remind the world of its collective responsibility to meet the basic
right of all people to adequate shelter.
The Scroll of Honour is currently the most prestigious human
settlements award in the world. Its aim is to acknowledge programmes
that have made
outstanding contributions in various fields such as shelter provision,
highlighting the plight of the homeless, leadership in post conflict
reconstruction, and developing and improving human settlements and
the quality of urban life.
This year's awards, plaques engraved with the name of each winner and their
achievements will be presented to the winners during the Global
Observance of World Habitat Day on 5 October 2009 in Washington DC.
According to UN Habitat, "We have received submissions describing an
array of impressive initiatives to improve shelter and urban services.
We thank all those who submitted entries for consideration."
South Africa's Alexandra Renewal Project has been named as one of
the nine recipients. The UN Habitat profile for the Project reads:
The Alexandra Renewal Project (South
Africa)
For helping thousands of poor people
move into better homes and boosting health, water and electricity
services.
This renewal project has seen some 7,000 families relocated from the
banks of a polluted local river to better settlements. Urban greening
was incorporated in the project which led to development of parks and
recreation areas. The project also saw the development of new housing,
new schools and the refurbishment of many facilities. New clinics
improved access to healthcare; while 46,000 hygienic refuse bins have
been distributed, drastically improving garbage collection. More than
70 percent of the residents now have access to water and sanitation
and 88 percent have safe electricity, a major milestone in a place
once referred to as “Dark City”.
The ARP's Neels Letter is traveling to Washington to attend the
award ceremony on World Habitat Day. He will be accompanied by
Gauteng's MEC for Local Government and Housing,
Kgaogelo Lekgoro, who will receive the award on behalf of the Project,
as well as the Acting HOD, Mongezi Mnyani. The City of Johannesburg will be represented by the MMC for
Housing and the Executive Director for Housing.
The other winners of this year’s Scroll of
Honour Awards are:
-
Peter Oberlander (Canada)
A founding father of UN-HABITAT - for a lifetime of promoting the
urban agenda around the world
-
Un Techo Para Mi Pais (Chile)
For providing 42,000 homes for the poor in 15 Latin American countries
-
Rizhao Municipal Government (China)
For transforming their city into a green home with new housing and
infrastructure
-
Cementos Mexicanos - CEMEX (Mexico)
For helping more than 1 million poor people build their own homes
-
The City of Grozny (Russia)
For resurrecting their war scarred city and providing new homes for
thousands
-
Al- Medina Al-Munawarah Local Urban
Observatory (Saudi Arabia)
For pioneering a Local Observatory System now used elsewhere in the
country and in the Middle East for smart urban planning
-
The City of Malmö (Sweden)
For its innovative, holistic approach to becoming a 21st century
eco-city
-
UWESO (Uganda)
For providing water, health and sanitation to orphans and vulnerable
children
-
Jan Peterson (United States of America)
For championing the rights of grassroots women and their movements for
better human settlements
-
Neal Peirce (United States of America)
For a lifetime of journalism dedicated to reporting on cities for a
better urban future
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